Using the Web and social media to sell real estate

Today was a very intense day. I had an inspection on one of the properties I am rehabbing and it looks like I have inherited some problem left by the previous owner, so I had to resort to all my diplomacy skills while dealing with the city officials, negotiating what actually needs to be fixed and what can stay. Then I had a very interesting meeting with my business partner from Italy, Daniele Bogiatto.

The house I am selling with the cookies.

This was the first in-person meeting after three months and we decided to have it outside of a smoothies shop while we were drinking our smoothie and looking at the main street of Clearwater. It is quite challenging running a business across an ocean but we were amazed by the results achieved so far and the plans we have for the future. But we also realized that communication is paramount and that we will have to find better ways to exchange visions and feelings in addition to just project data. The development of such systems is going to be our focus for the next four weeks before he goes back to Italy.

But the very surprise came in the evening when I received am e-mail from a Realtor I know very well because she just helped me selling one of the property I have rehabbed. She came to visit another property that has just been finished and listed with another Realtor, and this time she was bringing a buyer. It would be quite mazing that she helps me selling two houses in two months, the first as a listing agent and the second as a buyer’s agent.

But the really interesting thing is that I had just finished staging the house the evening before. I had put some pieces of furniture and some nice objects throughout the house to make it look nice and just before leaving the place I decided to put some cookies on the kitchen counter next to a coffee machine. I figured people would have liked it and I had recently read some staging suggestions that included putting some cookies and coffee.

It turned out that the prospective buyer, an elderly man, who just visited the house with this Realtor is extremely interested and that one of the points that made it stand out, in addition to the excellent quality of the work, was that when he saw the cookies it felt already home to him. This specific house is very popular and I have also other people interested, but if I do end up selling to this old man, the cookies will have played a key role. How much value would they have?

It is then human factor that will make you stand out over and over.

Roberto Mazzoni